Five on Friday

1) Lots of new albums posted on the link at the right! Check out our visit with the Ryans to the Pittsburgh Zoo, recent playdates, and even more pictures of our move.

2) We have finally found a book that holds Brinn's interest. "Are you my Mommy?" featuring lots of pictures of penguins. What is with my girls and those "pengos"?

3) Mali's current favorite book is a vintage Richard Scarry book that our friend Kellie gave her. Based on that book, she has decided that she will be an airplane pilot when she grows up, and Brinn will be a baker of bread. That does make sense, as Mali likes to be in control of things, and Brinn likes both eating and having messy hands.

4) Our first family swim outing to the YMCA was interrupted by a rescue drill with a live human being. Try explaining that to a soaking wet two-year-old.

5) Congratulations to our friends Romee and Kristi Johnson of West Allis, WI who are expecting their second baby! Their son Corey will be adorable as a big brother. Time for me to win another baby pool I guess...even though I came in dead last for both Jonah Kurth and Abigail Ryan. Thankfully there was no money involved.

Ward girls take on the fair

Our first family visit to the Berrien County Youth Fair. Corn dogs, carnival rides (we only attempted the carousel), baby animals to pet, and cinnamon rolls at the end. Exactly as we remembered it.

Happy 74th, Grandma Dena

One of the best perks of living back in Michigan is not missing any family celebrations. We had a lovely time celebrating Grandma Dena's 74th birthday on Saturday with perfect weather and a delicious lunch at the Emporium in downtown South Bend. We are so blessed for our daughters to now get to know their great-grandmother better and learn from her example. We all love you and look forward to many more birthday cakes, Grandma Dena!

Montgomery Jaymes Snyder

His mom and I have been friends since Lamaze-class days...that is, when we were the ones in-utero. And now we're not only Lamaze alumni, but we each have two bundles of joy to call our own. It was great to meet sweet little Monty the other day and he is just as charming as his big brother Max. We'll even forgive the Snyders for stealing the name we had hoped to use someday for a dog. ("Montgomery Ward"--how cute is that?) Welcome to the world, Montgomery. We look forward to checking our Grandville Mall with you soon!

Extreme Makeover, Toddler-Style

A certain two-year-old currently has NO patience for her mommy to brush, comb, or style her hair. As you can see from this "before shot", an intervention was clearly in order.


So we made a trip to the closest hair salon. She was terrifed, but the stylist wooed her with the promise of a chocolate tootsie pop.




The result: even cuter curls and fewer discarded hair ties throughout the house.

11 Months Old

What a month for Brinnly. She handled the trip and relocating remarkably well. Her favorite part about the new house is all the different furniture to climb. She is happiest standing up, preferably dancing away to some music in the background. That sweet little girl quickly vanishes however, if her awful parents ever attempt something like a diaper change, or worse it, strapping her into her car seat. Oh, the cries of protest!

Still no teeth (how does she manage to have any calorie intake?) and no nights with a full night of sleep recently. But, life was good the other day when she quite clearly proclaimed "Mommy" in the midst of her typical "mamadadadabababa". Even Mali noticed and cheered for her! Brinn was also more than happy to provide herself with a round of applause.

Final good-bye shots

Before we moved..

We had a few days to enjoy more of our beautiful former Commonwealth. Our friend Nicole's wedding was a perfect opportunity. We took advantage of priceline.com (currently tied with craigslist for favorite our cheapskate website) and found a fantastic historic downtown hotel in York, PA. Since the girls were up by 6:00 am anyway, we took advantage of the walkable downtown and had the best orange creme french toast in the public market. The wedding was in a gorgeous rural setting and Mali loved seeing the cows and sheep during the drive. It goes without saying that we were thrilled to watch Nicole and Ronnie exchange vows and become husband and wife--what a beautiful ceremony. And the reception...dancing! Mali was one of the first on the dance floor, but it would have been a tie if Brinnly could walk. We lasted until almost 9:30 pm and the girls were out cold before we even pulled out of the parking lot.

We finished up our trip with a delicious brunch hosted by the Evans' family (parents of Erica, Nicole's maid-of-honor). Yum, yum! The fun definitely outweighed the pain of the traffic-filled, crabby drive home.

Check out our pictures here.

Home

We did it. We packed up two kids and the contents of one house, loaded everything into a Penske truck with a U-Haul trailer attached, said tearful good-byes, and drove 7+ hours from Pittsburgh to Grand Rapids. I cannot say thanks enough to the fantastic people on both ends of the trip that made this possible.

And now we've been here one week and although there are growing pains at times, the adjustment is going well. We'll post pictures as soon as we can find the camera and accessories. They must be in a box here somewhere...